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AC writes "Got $2 million in assets? Then you can join BillionaireXchange; just the place to find a 2006 Bugatti Veyron with a Start Bid of $1,050,000.00. Or perhaps you are looking for a boat like the Disco Volante (from James Bond), for example the 2000 Azimut Motor Yacht, a lovely 85-footer with a Start Bid of $2,700,000.00. On the other end of the deal, did your hedge fund leave you in the lurch? This is the place to sell those extravagant toys you thought you could afford."

It's because none of us have the right to become a member, unless browsing/. is the latest fad for industrial tycoons and Hollywood A-listers. I'm taking this as a deliberate assult on my rights to make fake bids on speedboats and supercars, and I'll be writing a strongly worded letter to my local governent representative expressing my concern and displeasure.

Wow. Pedantic much? Clearly I'm joking, but in the summary and the link to the blog it's clearly stated that to join you must have verifiable assets of at least $2M. The answer you posted from the site is in response to the question "Are there charges to join?", not "Do I need to have millions of dollars to join?".

It's getting better with regards to Apple - the fanboys seam to be growing up. The MS haters, though, are lagging but getting there.

No matter how you look at it, people are going to disagree with you on the internet either because you are actually wrong or because they are just doing it to attempt in getting a rise out of you. The third reason is that they truly believe that they are right, when they are actually wrong and you were correct in the first place. Ah, what a great culture we have!

My guess is that if it was filed under 'idle' where it belongs, nobody would see it.

The article was posted by samzenpus. All his articles belong in idle -- or better yet, digg or some other website.

Usually samzenpus doesn't make mistakes like filing it under the wrong category, though. This might fall on whoever submitted the story in the first place and the morons who used the firehose to get it approved when it was under the wrong category.

No top secret island bases, personal space stations, gold cigar holder and lighter combos that can double as a handgun and definitely no sharks with frikkin laser beams. In short, nothing that any self respecting billionaire/. reader would want to spend their money on.

No top secret island bases, personal space stations, gold cigar holder and lighter combos that can double as a handgun and definitely no sharks with frikkin laser beams. In short, nothing that any self respecting billionaire/. reader would want to spend their money on.

Oh, the main site is just a front. For the space stations, sharks with frikken laser beams, and robotic women who can break a mans neck with their thighs, you have to click on one of the items they have for sale. It's something that seems really out of place, and that nobody would probably want. It's the Barry Manilow platinum record, signed by him. Nobody would ever even click on it, so they figured that would be a safe way to hide the secret site.

My thoughts exactly. I doubt that a single regular here would have any interest (besides data mining or other geeky stuff) on billionairexchange.

My father-in-law runs a restoration business for collectable vehicles. The typical job tends to charge 1-2 million dollars. (They will reproduce the parts from either the original plans or will pay someone to go and measure the part on their car and rebuild it to spec)

He does purchase some of these vehicles, restores them on the side, and resells them for a modest profit. He doesn't have nearly the disposable income to simply hold onto them (maybe for a few months of car cruises, competitions, and the like) A place to sell these vehicles other than ebay or the various auction houses would be of interest to him.

I'm too frugal myself to deal with luxuries in the +$200k range, and I cringe at Rolex watches, but you shouldn't be surprised if a few slashdotters do have quite a bit of disposable income.

That is printed below the poll results. It may give you a rough idea, but you can't really use it for anything. You also have to take into account the people who don't share that information freely (frankly nobody should -- you are not your fucking khakis), and the people who will just vote for CowboyNeal's option or the highest amount just to skew the results.

The ridiculously rich support a not insubstantial group of brokers of second-hand yachts, planes, luxury cars, real estate, art, and so on. These businesses generally have flashy offices, high-paid staff, and collect a fair amount of commission for helping facilitate the transfer of said assets from those on the way down to those on the way up.

The business skills of the very rich are often overrated, but most of them are smart enough to figure out that cutting out the middlemen saves both the seller and buyer money. This lets them do it without the embarrassment of parading their failures to us plebs.

Or a good time depending on how you look at it -- especially with cutting out the middleman as Goonie said. Some people are making a killing right now in the market because they bought while things were in the shitter and now that it's starting to climb back up they might be looking to reward themselves with their fine investments. You also have to think about the crooks and liars who got us into this financial situation in the first place and that they probably still have disposable income to spend on stup

I just assumed that this site was either run by the luxury brands as an advertisement (or at least a way to attract ads from luxury brands) or maybe to facilitate things for the middlemen and established auction houses. Who would want to deal with buying and selling on the net if you're swimming in cash ? These guys already have their "people" and in my experience the richer they get the less they are embarrassed by making others jump through hoops for them for a pittance.

sound low rent?Look at their site, once you get past how "bling bling" it looks, its actually got very little content, and a hell of a lot of ads.

I also fail to picture why one would want to use an auction for this thing. You don't stay rich by squanding large sacks of money away on items you've not checked out.Meeting in person would give you a far better idea of whats involved, as well as either talk the price down to something more resonable, or have it explained why its worth so much.

Specifications:

Length Overall (LOA): 85'0"/25.91 m

Engine2000 MTU 12V 2000Horse Power: 314Fuel Type: Diesel

Engine Type: Inboard

DescriptionHull Material: FiberglassHours: Contact Dealer

Stock #: 85 Azimut 2000Status: In Stock

Thats the full description of a yacht with a minimum bid of 2.7 million dollars.If that auction site was worth a damn, they'd actually either give pages of material about the product, or refuse to list it on such small infomation.I'm done talking about the site, the fact that the site hit slashdot both gives credence to them, and lowers my perception of slashdot.I just hope slashdot got a pile of cash for advertising it.

I'm done talking about the site, the fact that the site hit slashdot both gives credence to them, and lowers my perception of slashdot.

Blame the people who modded it up with the firehose. If everybody who is angry about this making the front page used the firehose to mod things down, these sorts of things wouldn't make it through as much.

I've been a member of this site for months. I think I was following the owner on Twitter. I found it similarly devoid of content or purpose (as it apparently still is) and haven't logged in in quite a while.

Sure, they sell stuff worth millions. But are they standards compliant? That site looks pathetic in Firefox.
Considering the "elite" audience they are trying to attract, they could be directly turning away around 50% of their visitors.
I would not like to put my millions on a site like this...

Muh WTF ? Way to go off on a tangent, mate. You must be perpendicular to the equator and heading off towards Jupiter with that one !

In other news...

City Laws Only Available Via $200 License, but are they standards compliant ?Micro-Black Holes Make Poor Planet Killers, but are they standards compliant ?Microsoft Buys Teamprise, Will Ship Linux Tools, but are they standards compliant ? (Oh, that one actually IS relevant) !Future Blu-ray Movies To Come With Playable Game Demos, but are they standards complian

Or alternatively, they know how to save money. Instead of paying thousands of dollars for a design, integration, etc, they drop $50 and have a nice, proven theme.Seems like the smart thing to do to me.

This has to be a scam look at the registration page1. unsecured2. uses a joomal template3. net worth, Visa, American Express? , sounds to me like its a targeded operation to bilk money out of people that HAVE the money ti bilk.

This exclusive market sounds like an excellent place to levy a 25% Federal sales tax.

Most of those qualifying assets come from TARP and other government handouts. The rest are all enabled by the US government protecting the "capitalism" that collects that kind of money in individuals' hands: socialism for the rich. And all of it is protected from other taxes by an army of lawyers and offshore tax shelters.

Give these rich people a toy exchange as bait for them to pay their way in supporting the government th

I've got a lot of money myself. I earned it, in that I worked to get it, and I might not have if I weren't both good and lucky. I pay more to support the system that keeps it coming to me. And I deal with lots of people richer than me, and I see that they're more lucky than good as the scale goes higher. The billionaires aren't thousands of times better than the millionaires. They're luckier. And they should pay more to keep the $billions flowing.

I looked through all the listings and I couldn't find one with any bids at all so I'm kind of wondering if the site is real or not.
I can't find anything to prove that it's parody but that doesn't mean it isn't.
Anybody got $2M in assets to find out if it's real?;-)

As of 8am EST, there has been two auction items bid upon. (a 2008 Bugatti Veyron 16.4 for $450K U.S, and a 2071 ct Diamond & Gold Backgammon Set for $500K). I suppose if these sales go through, there only has to be a small percentage kept by the web site to make a profit, and not in fact a parody site.

It looks as if my company realizes that nobody gets paid enough to be able to place a bid on this site. They've gone ahead and blocked it so we won't be tempted to bid on items out of our price range. How thoughtful...

Slashdotters unite, we could all pool 1 dollar each into a bank account under a name which will never be used except if we all signed off on it, and create an account to then associate with this new found 2 million dollars, to which then all of/. could view at their leisure, without buying anything and keeping the money frozen to always have free access.

It would be pretty cool, although I doubt after the first 100k it would still be there... i think someone would find a way to steal the money.

If you are a millionaire with a couple million. I don't think you'll want to buy a $1 million toy. Also, imagine the sales/use tax on that you'll be paying to your state, probably another 100 or 200k, unless you're in Alaska, Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire, or Oregon.

I noticed that the site was a little cheap. Also, check out the merchandise. I do not know cars and boats, but I checked out some of the art. Seems they are peddling some cheap art for high prices. I wonder if this isn't part of their scam.